The Colonel vs the Jilted Bride
by Ultrawoman
Summary: AU post-2x21 Chuck vs the Colonel. Casey is usually a man of action, but must find some comforting words when the Asset's sister gets her heart broken. Turns out she actually wants more than words from him... Jellie. Written for my friend, Baschashe


**A/N: Okay, so am not really so much a Jellie shipper myself, but my friend Baschashe is! She had a Birthday recently and since then has been going through some stuff, and I really wanted to write something especially for her - this is it! So, Happy (belated) Birthday, Baschashe, and I hope this makes you smile in amongst the tear-inducing times you're having right now.**

**Timeline-wise, this is AU post-2x21 Chuck vs the Colonel, and follows directly on from my Casey & Sarah friendship one-shot called 'The Last Dance', but you ****don't**** have to read that to read this :-)**

_**Disclaimer: Chuck and all its recognisable characters belong to Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, and other important people that aren't me.**_

The Colonel vs The Jilted Bride

As Casey walked through the courtyard, he thought back over the past two years with an almost-smile on his face, fuelled by an odd moment of nostalgia. Bartowksi could be a real pain in the ass, and Walker being in love with the guy didn't help their missions. Still, this place had been as close to a home as he'd had in a good while, and he'd gotten used to the names and faces that had surrounded him. Casey didn't so much do sentimental but after the dance he'd shared with Walker tonight and knowing he might never see this place again, it made him feel a little strange.

Taking in a breath, Casey cleared his head of stupid wonderings and headed across the courtyard to his door. He didn't quite make it when he heard a strange noise. With a frown, he turned towards the sound, forever ready for whatever came flying at him. When nothing did, he relaxed a little, his expression turning to one of annoyance then.

"Bartowski?" he muttered, guessing the boy had probably found out Walker was leaving and had come home in tears.

Casey got quite a surprise when he rounded the over-sized pot plants and realised that whilst the sobbing person across the way was named Bartowksi, it wasn't Chuck. There sat Ellie, her back against her own front door and a bunch of keys in her hand that clearly hadn't been co-operating with the lock. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her pretty dress about to get ruined from her being sat on the dusty ground.

Less than a half hour ago, Casey had seen the Asset's sister smiling and laughing with her family and husband-to-be. Heaven only knew what had happened to upset her like this, and it was none of Casey's business to ask. Unfortunately, he spent too long staring her way before he realised that, and noticed his mistake all too late as he turned away only to hear her speak.

"John?" she said shakily and he closed his eyes at the sound.

"Damn" he cursed under his breath before turning back, "Hey, er, Ellie. You okay?" he asked, knowing he sounded like a fool but also patently aware that he was about to drop himself into the emotional problems of one more member of the Bartwoski family - that thrilled him not at all!

"No" she admitted, shaking her head and sending more tears careering down her face, taking all her carefully applied make-up for a ride, "I don't even know how to..." she tried to explain but failed miserably, putting her face into her hands that waited on her knees, and sobbing like a child.

Casey so wished he was anywhere but here right now, that he was as heartless as he pretended to be and could just walk away without a care. Unfortunately for John Casey, the badass NSA agent that had few known weaknesses, Ellie Bartowski had just found his kryptonite; he really could not bear to see a woman cry.

With a sigh, he walked on over, crouching down to her level.

"Here" he said, offering her the handkerchief from his pocket, which she accepted with a grateful but entirely watery smile.

"Thanks" she sniffled, before blowing her nose long and loud, something Casey could have done without witnessing, but that was soon forgotten when she looked up at him through eyes still glassy from tears, her hand landing on his arm and lingering there, "You're such a sweet man" she told him, such words a strange sound in Casey's head since they were hardly ever applied to him, "Why aren't all men sweet like you, and my brother, and..." she faltered some, partly because she was so upset, he reckoned, and partly from the alcohol he'd seen her knocking back and could still smell on her as she breathed close to his face, "I thought Devon was sweet and kind and... and he is _not_ Awesome, he is so the opposite of Awesome" she cried, throwing her arms to her sides with frustration and anger, and a healthy dollop of disappointment that she just couldn't shake.

Her fairytale was getting ruined, and apparently it was Devon's fault, though Casey still couldn't figure what the idiot had done to make her so very upset. He almost didn't want to ask, but she was expecting him to and with no-one else around to take care of her, the agent just didn't have it in him to leave her alone in such a state.

"We should get you inside" he said, reaching for her arm and easing her up from the floor.

She helped him to help her, getting to her feet, and giving up her keys to him when he tried to take them. He figured out which key he needed in a second and quickly had them inside where he helped Ellie to the couch and sat her down.

"He left me a note" she said with a sullen expression, done crying tears for the moment at least it seemed, but so unbelievably sad, "After all this time, he couldn't tell me to my face how he felt. Just a note" she said sadly.

Casey had never seen her look like this. They hadn't spent much time in close quarters but whenever he ran into her here at the apartment, out in the courtyard, at the BuyMore, whatever, she was almost always smiling. She greeted him with cheery waves and grinning hellos. Never once had he seen her look so lost, so broken. He told himself this was why he was suddenly harbouring an overwhelming need to punch Devon Woodcomb right in the mouth, because he had taken away a smile that never failed to make Casey need to respond to it with a similar look of his own. He hadn't recognised til then how true that was and the realisation nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Er, I'll make you a coffee" he said, recovering quickly and taking himself off to the kitchen.

Already, Casey was berating himself for ever coming in this apartment, even for approaching Ellie in the first place. Comforting jilted brides wasn't exactly his raison d'etre. He was much more a man of action than of words, and that was what she needed right now, someone to tell her everything would be okay and such, something Chuck or Walker might be able to handle, but not him. All he could do was make coffee, which would get her sober and probably only make her hurt all the more for seeing reality that bit clearer. He was officially an idiot, Casey realised, as he stopped searching the cupboards for coffee and stared unseeing into the void before him.

"Read it" two words spoken behind him jolted Casey back to reality as he was forced to focus on the piece of paper being waved before his eyes by Ellie who had suddenly appeared at his side, "Go on, read it. See if it makes sense to you, because I can't make any sense out of it!" she declared, sounding almost hysterical as Casey accepted the note from her and she turned to the counter behind him.

Honestly, Casey wasn't so sure he ought to be reading Devon's note of departure like this, but it was here in his hand and the slightly-drunk, very upset woman wanted him to so...

_My sweet Ellie_

_I tried so hard to be as Awesome as you needed me to be, but the truth is I'm not. It scares me that I'm going to wind up hurting you or just making you unhappy someday, even though it's the last thing I want to do. Right now I have to believe you'll do better without me, so I'm gone. I'm sorry for hurting you like I know I am, but it's better this way, trust me._

_All my love, babe_

_Devon_

Casey's mind raced a mile a minute with possibilities of what this note really meant. Maybe Devon was genuinely worried about the intel he'd learned, all the secrets that Chuck had tried to keep so long. That could've been enough to panic the guy, maybe make him worry his knowledge would put Ellie in danger. If that were true, Casey considered, Woodcombe might just be as noble as he was stupid. On the other hand, this whole situation could be far simpler to explain; maybe Devon was just a spineless idiot that...

A sniffling sound from Ellie had Casey stop short in his thoughts and turn to look her way. Stood by the counter, facing into the living room, she now had a bottle of scotch in one hand and a glass in the other, pouring out a healthy measure. He watched as she brought the glass to her lips, threw down the whole thing in one, and proceeded to pour another. She barely flinched when she drank, and Casey might've thought she was a hell of a woman for being able to knock back booze that way, but right now all he could focus on was the fact she looked so hurt, so lost. Almost two years protecting the Asset and pretending to hate every second of it, now it seemed he was voluntarily protecting the kid's broken-hearted sister.

"Y'know that won't help" he told her, leaning on the counter top beside her, "It's true what they say, the answers to your problems can't be found in the bottom of a bottle" he assured her, all kindness and wisdom, but she didn't particularly want to hear it today.

"You could help prove your point" she said, reaching for another glass and this time pouring two large shots "if you help me drink we'll see the non-helpful bottom of the thing faster" she reasoned, and he couldn't really fault her logic.

Of course, he could look at it from the point of view that the more he drank the less she might consume, which would mean she'd get less drunk and suffer less later. That made it seem noble, but honestly, Casey just wanted the drink right now. Picking up the glass, he didn't make it to his mouth before Ellie raised her own in some kind of odd toast.

"To being _not_ Awesome" she said, with some new found strength apparently, "To making it on my own" she said with a determination that Casey wasn't entirely sure she felt.

"Cheers" he said anyway, knocking back his drink with ease and barely feeling any effect.

This probably wasn't his best plan ever, getting drunk with the Asset's sister, but truth be told, it would take more than the rest of this bottle of scotch to impair his judgement too much. He couldn't account for Ellie's stamina when it came to booze. She certainly seemed to get tipsy enough at the rehearsal dinner on just champagne, but some of her giggles may have been caused by over-excitement and nerves. There was none of that now, of course, though she seemed to have found a brave smile from somewhere. She had to be tough, Casey knew that, first because of her profession and second because she pretty much raised her brother when their parents were gone. She was an incredible woman, and he wasn't so blind he hadn't noticed she was beautiful too.

"Y'know this is perfect" she was saying as she poured out another pair of scotches, "Now I can do all the things I never did" she considered, picking up her drink and making to carry it to the couch, "All the single person things that I barely got a chance to try out before I..." she stumbled then, not just on her words, but her feet forgot how to work and it was a wonder she didn't send the two glass items in her hands crashing to the ground.

"Careful" said Casey as he caught her before she fell, the glass and bottle in the hand landing shakily on the counter which thankfully she had only taken a couple of steps away from, "You okay?" he asked, not realising at first what a position he had put them in.

Ellie certainly noticed, she couldn't do anything else as she drew in her outstretched arms and found herself almost entirely wrapped up in the strong embrace of a real man. Sure, Devon was big and strong and all, but John Casey was a whole new ball game. Some people might think he was scary, but not Ellie. She had an idea he was like a bear, all cuddly and sweet on the inside, and yet at the same time capable of some truly wild behaviour. She liked this picture she kept of him inside her head, and right now, in the heat of this moment of closeness, she wanted him for real too.

Not answering him with words, she eased herself further into his arms putting her lips against his own. He ought to have pushed her away an he knew it, but honestly, Casey was a little sunned she'd act this way. On top of that, she was far from an unattractive woman and she knew how things worked. The moment felt too good to break too soon, but in the end he knew he had to.

"Ellie..." he said her name as he pushed her carefully away, his hands at her shoulders.

"Don't talk" she interrupted, desperately, "Please, I don't need it" she told him, moving back into his arms and kissing him hard once again.

She wasn't about to make this easy for Casey, her hands straying where they ought not to be as she fell into this kiss, determined to have what she wanted. His brain was in a spin at the concept of what was happening here, caught between enjoying kissing this woman a little too much and trying to be alert and businesslike as he usually would be in any given situation. Just when things were about to go too far, his brain caught up with the rest of John Casey and he escaped Ellie's grasp a second time.

"Ellie, seriously, we're not doing this" he gasped in air a moment as he moved away, leaving her with just the counter for support as she pitched forward, breathing hard herself.

Perhaps she ought to know why this situation was wrong. Were she not feeling so brave she would never act this way, but Devon's behaviour had hurt her deeply and the alcohol was fuelling her courage. Had she been single when John Casey moved in she was sure they would've done this months ago, had she managed to be so bold as to try it. She certainly wasn't giving up now she'd started, she had no reason to as far as she could tell.

"Why?" she asked, "I'm not engaged anymore" she seem to realise then and there, pulling her ring off as proof and laying it down on the counter as she came over to him again, "and you have to have noticed that I think you're very, very hot" she said with a special smile, her hands laid on his chest, fingers popping open one shirt button and then another, "Don't you like me, John?" she asked him, looking up through her lashes.

"I'd have to be blind and stupid not to" he breathed, wishing he had as much strength when it came to Ellie as he did when he was fighting and such, "but you're drunk and upset and I'm not taking advantage of you" he said, pulling his face away from her, trying not to get lost in the heat of her hands on his body, the scent of her hair, the feeling of the kiss that still burned on his lips from a moment ago.

"What if you're not" she said desperately, tears reforming in her eyes, "What if I'm taking advantage of you? Would that be okay?" she asked.

"Ellie..." he tried to argue, but she made it difficult for him at every turn.

"Y'know if I told you some of the dreams I'd had about you" she almost blushed at her own confession, "Please, John. Let me have my dream tonight" she begged him, pulling him close as she could, "It might make reality a little easier to face tomorrow"

If there was one thing John Casey could not resist it was a damsel in distress. It came with the job a lot of the time, but this was a whole different ballgame. He reasoned she was practically begging for him to do this, and drunk or not apparently she liked him well enough. She was right, she wasn't engaged anymore, if her idiot fiancé had up and left her like the fool he was.

"You know I'm leaving tomorrow?" he checked, "Never coming back" he said definitely, looking down into her eyes.

"Then make tonight count" she urged him, her body melting into his embrace as he finally gave in, letting his lips meet hers in a searing kiss.

If they were going to do this, they were going to do it right, of that Casey was decided. It was the last night he was going to spend in Burbank for a very long time, maybe forever. They were both adults, they both wanted this. Truth be told, if she wasn't engaged and the Asset's sister he might've done this sooner - the thought had occurred, once or twice.

Ellie couldn't breathe and didn't care to. She lost use of her legs and it really didn't matter as the man she had watched from afar and daydreamed about proved he was very much all man like he appeared to be. Maybe she was a fool for letting this happen, but perhaps it was just what she needed, she realised, as John Casey swept her up into his arms and carried her effortlessly to the bedroom. She giggled like a kid as he kicked the door shut behind them, but was serious again in a second as he laid her down, fully intent on making love to her.

No, she wouldn't ever regret this, Ellie thought to herself, as she closed her eyes and lost control, just for one night.

- The End -


End file.
